Queen (band)

Queen
File:Queen crest.png
Background information
Origin	London, England
Years active	1970 – present
Members	Brian May Roger Taylor (Currently part of Queen + Paul Rodgers)
Past members	John Deacon Retired Freddie Mercury Deceased

Queen is an English rock band formed by Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor in 1970 from the remains of Smile, with John Deacon completing the lineup the following year. The band became popular during the mid-to-late 1970s and to this day retains an extremely large international fanbase. Although formerly overlooked by critics, especially those in the United States, Queen has more recently been acclaimed as a pioneer of arena rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.

The band has also been cited as a strong influence on many later artists and in 2001 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2003 Queen became the first and only band to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2004 the band was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

Queen has also been inducted into the RockWalk of Fame (at Guitar Center on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard), and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Queen has had a total of eighteen number one albums, seventeen number one singles, and eight number one DVDs worldwide.

Members

• John Deacon (born 1951) bass, rhythm guitar and synthesizer - Deacon was the bass player with the group. The only member never to sing vocals on a Queen album, he was also the last member to join the band in 1971. He wrote the fewest songs of any individual member, but composed some of the band's biggest worldwide hits such as Another One Bites The Dust, You're My Best Friend and I Want To Break Free. Deacon has chosen not to participate in the recent Queen + Paul Rodgers tour.

• Brian May CBE (born 1947) guitar, piano, synthesizer and vocals - May was the lead guitarist of the group. While often providing harmonizing and backing vocals, he occasionally played piano. May occasionally sang lead vocals on a number of tracks such as '39, Sleeping On The Sidewalk, Good Company and She Makes Me. As a boy, he built the Red Special, a guitar he continues to use to this day.

• Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) vocals, piano, synthesizer and sometimes guitar - Among the general public, Mercury is perhaps best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the group, with such roles placing a shadow over his skill as a pianist and songwriter. He wrote the majority of the songs found on Queen's Greatest Hits. As a singer, he had a distinctive voice and quite an impressive range.

• Roger Taylor (born 1949) drums, percussion, synthesizer and vocals - Taylor was the drummer of Queen. Like May, he provided backing vocals; in the 70s, he sang lead vocals on songs such as I'm In Love With My Car, Fight From The Inside and Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll. In addition to drums, Taylor would often take on guitar and bass duties on his own songs.

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Queen, 1974. Clockwise from top: May, Taylor, Mercury, Deacon

As instrumentalists

Typically, for most of their songs, Deacon played bass, Taylor played drums, Mercury played piano and May played guitar. But, like their heroes The Beatles, Queen members explored different kinds of instrumental functions throughout their career.

John Deacon played guitar in addition to bass, taking over rhythm parts in many albums, as well as several acoustic performances. Much of the guitar work on Hot Space is the work of Deacon. Reportedly he could keep basic drum patterns and, even if he never mastered his keyboard abilities, he would occasionally play synths on his own compositions and often composed at the piano, playing an electric one on his top ten hit "You're My Best Friend". He can also be seen playing the grand piano in the video to "Spread Your Wings", although he didn't play it on the studio version. He played double-bass on two occasions; reportedly Brian May had told him to play it on "'39" as a joke, but some days later Deacon appeared at the studio with the instrument and he had already figured out how to play it.

Brian May played piano and ukulele in addition to guitar. He played rhythm instruments less than the other Queen members, but occasionally he did some bass or drum parts in his solo albums, and within the band he composed some parts for those instruments, as in "Sweet Lady" or "Teo Torriatte". Due to the uniqueness of his guitar, the Red Special, which he built himself, May was often able to create strange and unusual sound effects. For example, he was able to imitate an orchestra in the song "Procession", the opening track of Queen II; in "Get Down, Make Love", he was able to create sound effects with his guitar that were so unusual that many thought a synthesizer was being used. In "Good Company" he used his guitar to mimic a trombone, a piccolo and several other instruments for the song's Dixieland jazz band feel. He added some special instruments here and there, but most of them were via studio tricks; for instance, to nail the harp parts of "Love Of My Life", he played each chord separately in a different take, then the producer merged them to form the entire part. In addition to these instruments, he played a toy koto in "The Prophet's Song".

Freddie Mercury was a pianist with the ability to cover many different styles. For the most part, he played grand pianos, but throughout the years he occasionally played electric piano and also upright jangle, as in the song "Seaside Rendezvous" and the #2 hit "Killer Queen" . He was an experienced synth player and programmer as well: the orchestral interludes of "Was It All Worth It" were completely composed, arranged and played by him on a Korg M1 keyboard, as well as the string sections of "Bijou".

Mercury was often self-deprecating about his guitar skills (when performing live, he often introduced "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by stating "This shitty guitar only knows three chords", such as in the Live at Wembley '86 concert, or by saying "Ten years ago I knew about three chords on the guitar. Now, in 1982, I know three chords on the guitar.", as done in the Live at the Bowl concert); however, he would write on guitar frequently, especially in the early days. In fact, he wrote the riff from "Ogre Battle" and the rock section in "Bohemian Rhapsody" on guitar. In an interview, Brian May stated that "when Freddie used to pick up a guitar he'd have a great frenetic energy. It was kind of like a very nervy animal playing the guitar. He was a very impatient person and was very impatient with his own technique. He didn't have a great technical ability on the guitar but had it in his head. And you could feel this stuff bursting to get out. His right hand would move incredibly fast. He wrote a lot of good stuff for the guitar. A lot of it was stuff which I would not have thought of, because it would be in weird keys. He had this penchant for playing in E flat and A flat and F."

It's unknown if he could play bass or drums to any extent, but it's been confirmed that he came up with very elaborate parts for them on various songs; he composed the bass line of Taylor's "A Kind Of Magic", and programmed many rhythm parts in his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy.

Roger Taylor was the drummer for Queen, and possessed a sound which involved several trademarks including an involuntary opening of the hi-hat on every backbeat for a rhythm emphasis. He played a great deal of percussion along with his standard drum kit, the most famous pieces being the timpani during the operatic section of "Bohemian Rhapsody". In addition to his drum work, he routinely played the guitars and bass on his own songs, and, during the 1980s, he formed a parallel band known as The Cross in which he was the singer and rhythm guitarist. Taylor was supposedly not the best keyboardist, and thus many of his piano-based musical ideas are considered uniquely different. He was also quite good when it came to percussion synthesizers which he used during live shows.

Logo

The logo of Queen is known as the Queen Crest, and was designed by Mercury. One of the most recognizable symbols in rock and roll, the logo includes the zodiac signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon and Taylor), a crab for Cancer (May), and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury). The lions are holding a large letter Q, with the crab on top of it while on fire, and the fairies below on either side. The whole logo is topped by a phoenix.

History

Pre-Queen, 1968-1970

Main article: Smile

Brian May and Roger Taylor were playing in a semi-professional band called Smile with Tim Staffell. Mercury was Staffell's roommate at Ealing Arts College and followed Smile's music closely; Mercury was a singer in other bands, such as Ibex in 1969 and Sour Milk Sea in 1970. Still, he was very eager to share his ideas so Smile could develop. Staffell left Smile to join another band, Humpy Bong, because he felt the style of music Smile played was a flash in the pan. Smile split up but Mercury persuaded May & Taylor to continue, changing the band's name from Smile to Queen in the process. The band had a number of bass players during this period who ultimately didn't fit in with the band's dynamics, but it was not until 1971 that they found John Deacon and started to rehearse for the first album, Queen.

Finding their sound, 1970-1974

In 1973, Queen released their first album, a self-titled project. It drew little mainstream attention, as the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive", a Brian May composition, sold poorly. All of the band's future musical trademarks can be detected here. Greg Prato of "allmusic" called it "one of the most underrated hard rock debuts of all time."

It wasn't until 1974 that the band gained any mainstream attention or commercial success, when the album Queen II was released. It reached number 5 on the British album charts, while the Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye", reached number 10 in Great Britain, giving it its first hit. The band toured as support to Mott the Hoople (referred to in the "Now I'm Here" lyric "Down in the city, just Hoople and me") during this period, when it first began to gain notice for its energetic and hugely engaging stage shows.

Later that same year, Sheer Heart Attack was released. The album was huge in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States, giving the band its first taste of true commercial success. Considered one of its greatest efforts, Queen made a surprisingly cohesive album with a wide variety of different types of music; from British Music Hall to heavy metal tunes like "Now I'm Here" and "Stone Cold Crazy" (which Metallica would later cover and earn a Grammy for), to ballads ("Lily of the Valley"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown"), and even Caribbean ("Misfire").

The single "Killer Queen" was a British number 2 hit which reached as high as number 11 on the U.S. charts. It combined campy, vaudeville British music hall with Led Zeppelin-like sound and Brian May's virtuosity on the guitar. The album's second single, "Now I'm Here", was a number 11 hit in Britain.

Worldwide success, 1975-1979

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A Night At The Opera

In 1975, A Night At The Opera was recorded and released. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced. Considered by many fans and critics alike to be its greatest effort, A Night at the Opera featured the huge worldwide hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Bohemian Rhapsody" was number one in the UK for nine weeks, and another five weeks in 1992 when it was re-released after the death of Mercury. It originally reached number 9 in the U.S, and number 2 when re-released in 1992 after its appearance in Wayne's World. The song is Britain's third best selling single of all time. The album also featured "You're My Best Friend", which peaked at 14 on the U.S. charts and went on to become a worldwide Top 10 hit.

The song Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to... is dedicated to former manager and Trident Studios co-owner Norman Sheffield, blamed for the band being in debt despite the relative success of the third album and the hit "Killer Queen". Queen never felt Sheffield gave them adequate promotional or financial support, and ties were cut before the Opera recording sessions began.

The entire album featured incredible diversity in music styles and experimentation with stereo sound (for example, in "The Prophet's Song", an 8-minute epic, the middle section is simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound). The album was a smash in Britain, and went three times platinum in the United States.

By 1976, Queen was back in the studio, where it recorded what may have been mistakenly perceived as a companion album to A Night at the Opera. Entitled A Day At The Races, the cover was similar to that of A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen Crest. Musically, although the album was by both fans' and critics' standards a strong effort, it was unable to eclipse its predecessor and did not sell quite as well.

The major hit on the album was "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to make a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to number 11 on the U.S. singles chart and number 2 on the UK charts.

It was during this same year that Queen played one of its most famous gigs, a 1976 concert in Hyde Park, London. It set an attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed to be in attendance. The actual number in attendance is thought to be closer to 180,000, and is usually stated as between 150,000 and 200,000. By comparison, the 2005 London Live 8 concert, which featured numerous of the world's highest drawing acts (including The Who, U2, Madonna, Coldplay, Elton John, Robbie Williams and a reunited Pink Floyd) drew about 150,000.

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News Of The World

1977 saw the release of News Of The World, an album that was critically panned at the time but has gained recognition over time as being one of the stand-out hard rock albums of the late '70s, as well as being one of the albums most influential in creating stadium rock. This album had many songs that were tailor-made to be performed live, including "We Will Rock You" and the famous rock ballad "We Are The Champions", both of which reached number 4 in the U.S., and both of which would become enduring, international sports anthems.

Roger Taylor released his first solo effort this year in the form of a single. The A-side was a cover of a song by The Parliaments ("I Wanna Testify") and the B-side was a song by Taylor called "Turn On The TV".

In 1978 the band released the Jazz album, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race", which were also released as a double-A-side single. Although successful, the album was targeted by critics for its collection of different styles, jazz not being one of them. Ironically, the well-known magazine Rolling Stone criticized it for being "dull", continuing to say "Queen hasn't the imagination to play jazz—Queen hasn't the imagination, for that matter, to play rock & roll". The album cover was inspired by a painting on the Berlin Wall, and none of the material can really be defined as jazz even to the casual listener. Important tracks of the album were "Dead on Time", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Mustapha", an Arabesque-sounding song by Mercury, combined with heavy rock guitar.

Fan response was lukewarm to Jazz and for the first time Queen's sales saw a bit of a dip. By this time, News of the World had gone quadruple platinum, while Jazz had merely gone platinum. All band members, especially Taylor, noted frustration and disappointment with the album, and as a result, took a break from the breakneck schedule of one or more albums a year, and focused during the year of 1979 totally on a new album to come out in 1980.

They did, however, release their very first live album. Entitled Live Killers, it went platinum twice in the U.S. They also released the very successful single, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly song done in the style of Elvis Presley; the single made the top 10 in most countries and was the band's first number one single in the U.S.

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The Game

New sound and the introduction of synthesizers, 1980-1989

Queen started off the 1980s with the hugely successful album, The Game, which turned out to be their highest selling (barring greatest hits collections). The album featured the "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" single, as well as the monster hit "Another One Bites the Dust", a track that was released in the summer of 1980. A common myth is that Michael Jackson first suggested that it would make a great single, but this is apocryphal. It stayed at number one for four weeks in the United States, and the album went four times platinum States-side. It was also the only song to ever top the Billboard rock, dance, and R&B charts simultaneously. The album also included two popular ballads, "Play the Game" and "Save Me", the latter of which became a fan favourite and concert staple.

The album was the first appearance of a synthesizer on a Queen album. Although some have suggested that it was its 1977 album News Of The World (specifically, the song "Get Down, Make Love") where the instruments first appeared, the effects were created solely by Brian May's famous Red Special guitar.

1980 also saw the release of the soundtrack it had recorded for Flash Gordon. The album sold poorly (although it reached number 10 in the UK), but served as a showcase for Queen in a different light.

1981 saw Queen become the first rock band to play in South American stadiums. It broke the attendance world record for a single concert and venue, at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil; 131,000 people attended the first night and 251,000 attended over 2 days. Including five shows in Argentina, Queen played to a total audience of 479,000 people on their South American tour. In October 9, 17 and 18, 1981, Queen performed in front of more than 150,000 at Monterrey (Estadio Universitario) and Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico. They were the first major rock band to play for Mexican audiences. During the year it collaborated with another artist for the first time, David Bowie, on the single "Under Pressure". The collaboration itself was a spontaneous affair, when Bowie happened to drop by the studio where Queen was recording. While the band was immediately pleased with the results, it wasn't until years later that Bowie began to actually appreciate the song and play it during his concerts. Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching #1 in Britain. The bass riff was borrowed for Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit, "Ice Ice Baby", prompting a successful lawsuit over the use of the sample. At the time, Vanilla Ice claimed that the two basslines were different when in fact, save for one note, they are identical. "Under Pressure" was recently re-recorded together by The Used and My Chemical Romance for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

The group also released a widely successful Greatest Hits album, its first, which showcased the group's rock highlights during the first phase of its career. In this year, Roger Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album, entitled Fun In Space.

Inspired by the overwhelming international success of "Another One Bites The Dust", the band decided that they should focus their next album on disco and funk. The result was the 1982 album Hot Space, which tends to be regarded by some die-hard fans as being one of the band's worst. The album was especially disappointing to the hard-rock faithful who had followed Queen from its early years, as none of the eleven songs were particularly hard rock-oriented. Many fans wished that Queen would go back to its "no synthesizers" policy of the '70s. Also, the band stopped touring North America as their success there waned. Queen would also leave Elektra Records, their label in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and sign to EMI/Capitol Records for all of the free world.

After working solidly for over ten years, either touring or recording new material, Queen decided that it would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time it recorded the album The Works and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work which constantly led to rumours that the band was going to split, rumours that would persist throughout the rest of its career. Brian May released a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen.

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The Works

In 1984, Queen bridged the gap between hard rock and pop with the album The Works, which included the very successful singles "Radio Ga Ga", "I Want to Break Free", (a song later to be used both as an anthem of the democracy movement in Brazil and later in commercials for the Coca-Cola C2 soda), and the heavy, hard-rock live favourites "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the US. "Radio Ga Ga" would be the band's last original Stateside Top 40 hit until 1992 when Queen released the single "The Show Must Go On" (reached #2) after Mercury's death.

The music video for "I Want to Break Free" parodied Coronation Street, a British soap opera, and was popular there, but as it showed the band in drag, was thought to work against them elsewhere, where viewers did not get the joke. Many claimed that the video hurt the band's sales in the United States in subsequent years.

Late in 1984, Queen embarked on a set of dates in Bophuthatswana, South Africa at the arena at Sun City. Upon returning to England, Queen was the subject of outrage after having played Sun City during the height of apartheid in that country. Queen maintained that it was just playing music for people who wanted to hear it, and stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.

1985 started with two performances at the Rock in Rio festival. At 2 AM on January 12, Queen opened the festival playing in front of 325,000 people, breaking its previous world record. It also played on January 19 for a capacity-crowd of 325,000 fans to close the festival.

At Live Aid, held at Wembley on July 13, 1985, Queen's concert arena artistry reached its apex. In the eyes of critics and fans alike, the group stole the show at the worldwide extravaganza, performing some of their greatest hits and wowing audiences with their superb musicianship and showmanship.

Revitalised by the response to Live Aid and the resulting increase in record sales, Queen ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision", an uptempo guitar-based song credited, unusually for this period, to all four members of the band. It was used in the film Iron Eagle.

1985 also saw the release of Mercury's first solo album Mr. Bad Guy.

In early 1986 Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander of the same year, as well as a few inspired by (but not used in) the film. This album was very successful, producing a string of hits including the title track "A Kind of Magic", "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Princes Of The Universe".

Later that year, Queen went on a sold-out final tour, known as The Magic Tour, in support of A Kind Of Magic, whose highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, which for many fans and critics has become Queen's ultimate live document, released both on CD and as a live concert film on VHS and later DVD.

On this tour, the members of Queen performed for the last time together. They could not book Wembley for a third night because it was already booked, but they managed to get Knebworth Park. It sold out within 2 hours, and over 125,000 fans packed the park for what turned out to be Queen's final live performance. Ultimately, the Magic Tour was the biggest tour Queen had ever played. A total of more than 1 million people saw the show, with 400,000 for the UK alone, which was the record at the time.

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Queen in 1990.

After working in various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballé, "Barcelona") the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic with a polished pop-rock sound and spawned the European hits "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "The Invisible Man", "Scandal", and "The Miracle". Queen announced that there would be no tour for this album, with Mercury declaring that he was the sole reason. He stated that he simply wanted to break the typical cycle of album/tour. Speculation returned of a possible breakup of the band in the near future, or more ominously, that Mercury might be suffering from health problems.

The Miracle also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Since the band's beginning, nearly all songs had been written by and credited to a single member, with each of the other members often adding minimal creative input, and instead helping the original writer to realise their vision for the song. Starting with The Miracle, the band's songwriting began to become more collaborative, and although many songs could be said to have been written largely by one member or another, they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.

Mercury's death and the final albums, 1990-1997

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Innuendo

Beginning in the late 1980s, rumours started spreading in the tabloid press and elsewhere that Freddie Mercury was suffering from AIDS. Although they turned out to be true, Mercury flatly denied these rumours. However, the band decided to keep making albums free of conflict and differences; starting with The Miracle and continuing with 1991's Innuendo. Although his health was deteriorating, Mercury was courageous in handling his contributions, working in a creative fervor. Highlights of Innuendo were the epic title track, the hard-rocking powerhouse "Headlong", the quirky, synthesizer-heavy, pop-styled "I'm Going Slightly Mad", and the reflective anthems "The Show Must Go On" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives".

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Freddie Mercury finally acknowledged he had AIDS. Within 24 hours of the announcement, Mercury was dead at the age of 45. His funeral services were private, held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.

On 20 April 1992, the public shared in the mourning of Mercury's passing at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held at London's Wembley Stadium in Mercury's honour. Musicians such as Robert Plant, Annie Lennox, Guns N' Roses, Extreme, Roger Daltrey, Def Leppard, Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Metallica and Liza Minnelli, along with the three lasting members of Queen, performed many of Queen's major hits. It was an extremely successful concert that was viewed by tens of millions worldwide. The concert is in The Guiness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert". It raised £19 960 000 for AIDS charities.

Queen never actually disbanded, although its last album of original material (not including compilations) was released in 1995, titled Made in Heaven, put out four years after Freddie Mercury's death. It was constructed from Freddie's final recording sessions in 1991, plus material leftover from their previous studio albums; in addition, re-worked material from Mercury's solo album Mr. Bad Guy and a track originally featured on the first album of Taylor's side-project, The Cross, were included. May and Taylor have often been involved in projects related to raising money for AIDS research and promoting its support. John Deacon's last involvement with the band was in 1997, when he recorded the track "No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young)" with the other two members. It was the last original song recorded by all three remaining members of Queen, and it was released as a bonus track on the Queen Rocks compilation album later that year.

"Queen + …" projects, 1998 onwards

Several Queen + projects were made in the following years, a few of them mere remixes with no artistic involvement from the band. In 1999 a Greatest Hits III album was released. This album featured, among others, "Queen + Wyclef Jean" on a rap version of "Another One Bites The Dust", and the live version of "The Show Must Go On", performed live in 1997 with Elton John.

Brian May and Roger Taylor performed together as Queen on several occasions (award ceremonies, charity concerts, and the like), sharing vocals with various guest singers. They also recorded several covers of Queen's hits (We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions) with new singers.

In 2003, four new songs were recorded by Queen for Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign against AIDS. The studio versions of Invincible Hope (Queen + Nelson Mandela, feat. Treana Morris), 46664 - The Call, Say It's Not True, and Amandla (Anastacia, Dave Stewart and Queen) have not yet been released on album.

Return of the Champions

At the end of 2004, it was announced that Queen would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free, Bad Company, and The Firm). It was also stated, including on Brian May's own website, that Rodgers would be "featured with" Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The officially retired Deacon would not be participating, Danny Miranda of Blue Öyster Cult replaced him on bass. Other members of the tour included keyboardist Spike Edney, who played guitar and keyboards in Queen live shows since 1984, and additional guitarist Jamie Moses, who had worked with Brian May on solo efforts since the early '90s.

The tour has left the fanbase profoundly divided (especially because of the controversial use of the "Queen" name), but it has seduced most journalists and reviewers -- something of a novelty for a group that has traditionally faced harsh criticisms from the press.

On September 19, 2005, a live double CD album was released, Return of the Champions, featuring Paul Rodgers. It was recorded live in May, 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. A DVD from the same concert was relased a few weeks later.

In March 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers set out to tour the US and Canada. This tour, apart from the two US dates from the first Queen + Paul Rodgers tour, marks Queen's first full-on USA tour since Hot Space in 1982. Queen + Paul Rodgers debuted their first new song, a collaboration called "Take Love", while on the US tour.

On April 11, 2006 Queen appeared on the American singing contest television show American Idol. Each of the contestants was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appeared on the show included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", and "Innuendo". Brian May later criticized the show for editing specific scenes, one which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite. "Who Wants to Live Forever" was covered on the show by Katharine McPhee, even though the song was originally chosen by Mandisa, who was voted off one week earlier.

On April 28, Queen + Paul Rodgers released a second live DVD from their collaboration--"Super Live in Japan." The show was filmed at Saitama Super Arena on October 27, 2005--one of six Japan dates scheduled.

On May 25, Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and KISS were the inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honours in Las Vegas. The ceremony aired on VH1 six days later. The Foo Fighters performed "Tie Your Mother Down" as a tribute to Queen, with May and Taylor joining the performance mid-way through. Later, Queen + Paul Rodgers played "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions", "Under Pressure", and "The Show Must Go On", accompanied by Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters on drums.

There have not yet been any official announcements regarding the future of Queen + Paul Rodgers.

Historical success

As of 2005, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums had spent more time on the UK album charts than those of any other musical act.

Current Rankings:

1. Queen (1,422 Weeks)
2. The Beatles (1,293 Weeks)
3. Elvis Presley (1,280 Weeks)
4. U2 (1,150 Weeks)
5. Dire Straits (1,136 weeks)
6. Simon and Garfunkel (1,114 weeks)
7. Madonna (1,032 weeks)
8. David Bowie (1,005 weeks)
9. Elton John (989 weeks)
10. Michael Jackson (966 weeks)

Also in 2005, with the release of its live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of the acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts. This list does not make allowances for the fact the charts were a smaller list in the 1960s.

Current rankings:

1. Elvis Presley (2,074 weeks)
2. Cliff Richard (1,982)
3. Queen (1,755)
4. The Beatles (1,749)
5. Madonna (1,660)
6. Elton John (1,626)

The band's total sales figures estimates vary greatly. In 2001 it was stated its sales topped 100 million records worldwide; however, according to an official press release two years later, Queen has "accounted for record sales in excess of 150 million across the world". The following year, the figure of "over 190 million albums" was claimed at its UK Music Hall of Fame induction. Several sites also claim a worldwide figure of over 300 million records. According to the RIAA Queen's total U.S. album sales are reported to be 35.5 million as 2004 (at today probably over 40 million http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=333593)

Influence on other musicians

Queen is remembered for its never-before-seen theatrics, showmanship, expert musicianship (both live and in studio) camp and bombast so much that critics have since classified the band as a major player in the evolution of rock music. Queen is noted in particular for its musical eclecticism and ground-breaking live shows.

Queen often recorded in many different genres, recording in genres as varied as psychedelic rock (in songs like "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" and "Jesus"), hard rock ("Hammer to Fall" and "I Want It All"), funk and disco ("Another One Bites the Dust" and "Staying Power"), country-flavored stomp ("Fat Bottomed Girls"), gospel-esque ballads ("Somebody to Love"), heavy metal ("Stone Cold Crazy" and "Brighton Rock"), punk rock ("Sheer Heart Attack"), even ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown" and "Seaside Rendezvous") and pop ("You're My Best Friend" and "Breakthru"). Roger Taylor also jokingly refers to the song "39", as "Science-Fiction Space Folk" in the "Making Of A Night At The Opera" DVD.

Much like its music, the collection of bands influenced by Queen is quite diverse. Bands that cite Queen as an influence include Judas Priest, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Steve Vai, George Michael, Metallica, The Flaming Lips, The Melvins, Guns N' Roses, Dr. Dre, Chris Cornell, Blind Guardian, Nirvana, Ween, Trent Reznor, Extreme, Dream Theater, Jeff Buckley, Green Day, Jellyfish, The Smashing Pumpkins, Robbie Williams, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Folds Five, Foo Fighters, Joan Osborne, Davey Havok, Social Distortion, Muse, Keane, The Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, Katie Melua, Pharrell Williams and Jetliner among others.

Michael Jackson was a good friend of the band in the early 1980's and cited Hot Space as the driving influence behind the making of his album Thriller.

The digital realm

In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen: The Eye in 1998, to commercial and critical failure. The music itself - Queen tracks from its vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versions - was by and large well received, but the game experience was hampered by poor gameplay. Adding to the problem was an extremely long development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.

Under the supervision of Brian May and Roger Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been underway involving Queen's lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their famous 1986 Wembley concert (titled Live At Wembley Stadium) and 1982 Milton Keynes concert (Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the '70s and '80s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS Surround Sound. So far, two of Queen's most acclaimed albums, A Night At The Opera and The Game, have been fully remixed into DTS Surround on DVD-Audio albums. Known for their densely layered arrangements and backing, this medium seems tailor-made for Queen's music. Brian May has said he would like to see the entire Queen catalogue reproduced in this format, as it is closer to what the band envisaged for their work years ago. A new 5.1 mix of A Night At The Opera, including the first surround versions of The Prophet's Song and God Save The Queen, was created in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD set).

Live performances

Queen's live performances were truly ground-breaking, employing massive lighting rigs, pyrotechnics, and other special effects to make their shows into engaging theatrical events. Mercury immersed himself in the crowd's adulation and thrived off their excitement, a trait for which many, including Kurt Cobain (in his suicide note), have expressed admiration. Beginning with "News Of The World" in 1977, Queen began to write songs with the specific purpose of involving the crowd, like "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", and tailored some songs, like "Radio Ga Ga", to involve claps. This resulted in a stunning moment at Live Aid at which almost 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium clapped their hands over their head in unison to "Radio Ga Ga". The performance is considered by some musicians and critics to be the greatist live show of all time. They are considered to be one of the greatest live bands ever. Queen is also widely credited as one of the first artists to use the big screen (or Jumbotron) at live concert events.

File:Oldwembley.jpg

Old Wembley Stadium (1923-2000), where Queen held several of their famous concerts.

Queen embarked upon many popular tours with memorable shows, such as their free concert in Hyde Park (1976) attracting about 150,000 people, and their South American tour of 1981 which overall had them playing to about 690,000 over the course of 13 concerts. Queen played many more memorable shows including the historic Live Aid concert held at Wembley Stadium in England, and at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil. The Wembley concert, part of a UK tour in 1986, attracted 150,000 people over two nights. A memorable and prophetic moment (which can be heard on the CD edition of this concert) occurred when Freddie Mercury told the audience: "There's been a lot of rumours lately about a certain band called Queen... the rumours are that we're gonna split up. What do you think?" Audience: "No!" Mercury: "Forget those rumours, we're gonna stay together 'till we fucking well die, I'm sure!"

At the Knebworth concert held with some 150,000 in attendance on August 9th that same year, Mercury made the following statement:

"...and earlier on, there were rumours of us splitting up, but I mean, fuck 'em! I mean, really, look at this! (cheers). I mean, how can you split up when you have an audience like this, I mean, really! We're not that stupid!"

Ironically, the band were to hardly meet for another 3 years, during which time Mercury did some solo work and Taylor did some work with The Cross.

According to Freddie's boyfriend Jim Hutton's book, Mercury and Me, Freddie Mercury was diagnosed HIV positive the following year (1987), which possibly explains why they went quiet after such a successful tour. Hutton was Mercury's final partner, together from the mid-80s until his death.

As a point of interest, Lisa Marie Presley stated that the first rock concert she attended was by Queen in Los Angeles. After the show, she gave Mercury a scarf that belonged to her late father.

Queen's line-up (live performances)

Queen (1970 - 1971)	Brian May - guitar, vocals Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano Roger Taylor - drums, vocals Mike Grose - bass (June-July 1970) Barry Mitchell - bass (August 1970 - January 1971) Doug Bogie - bass (February 1971)
Queen (1971 - 1986)	John Deacon - bass Brian May - guitar, vocals Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano Roger Taylor - drums, vocals with Morgan Fisher - keyboards, piano (April-June 1982) Fred Mandel - keyboards, piano (July-November 1982) Spike Edney - keyboards, piano, guitar, vocals (1984-1986)
Queen + (1992 - 1997)	John Deacon - bass Brian May - guitar, vocals Roger Taylor - drums, vocals with Spike Edney and various artists
Queen + (1999 - 2006)	Brian May - guitar, vocals Roger Taylor - drums, vocals with Spike Edney and various artists
Queen + Paul Rodgers (2005 - 2006)	Brian May - guitar, vocals Roger Taylor - drums, vocals plus Paul Rodgers - lead vocals with Spike Edney - keyboards Danny Miranda - bass Jamie Moses - guitar

In film

Queen contributed music directly to the movies Flash Gordon and Highlander (the original film directed by Russell Mulcahy).

Several other films have prominently featured their songs, including Iron Eagle, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon, Wayne's World, Small Soldiers, Super Size Me, A Knight's Tale, The Girl Next Door, Revenge of the Nerds, and Shaun of the Dead. A cover of "Somebody to Love" by Anne Hathaway was recorded for the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical Moulin Rouge!. The song "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released after appearing in the Wayne's World, and subsequently made number 2 on the US billboard chart.

Keeping in the tradition (since Season 5) of naming each season's episodes after songs from a famous 70's era rock band (i.e. Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth and The Rolling Stones for the seventh), the eighth and final season of That '70s Show consisted of episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody" served as the season premiere title.

In musical theatre

In 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, entitled We Will Rock You, opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor. It has since been staged in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane, Australia; Cologne, Germany; and Las Vegas, Nevada. The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday 7th October 2006 at the Dominion Theatre. Due to public demand, however, the show has now been extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You has become the longest running musical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the Grease musical..

The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations Brian May performed a guitar solo of God Save the Queen, as featured on Queen's A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the same song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera.

Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrack for the show’s dancers, interpret the stories behind tracks such as Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga and Killer Queen.

The Official International Queen Fan Club

The Official International Queen Fan Club was set up in 1973 after the release of the band's first album. At its peak, membership reached 20,000. According to Guinness World Records it is the "Longest-Running Rock Group Fan Club."

Selected discography

Main article: Queen discography

Studio albums

Year	Name	Charts
1973	Queen	#24 UK (gold), #52 Japan, #83 US (gold)
1974	Queen II	#5 UK (gold), #19 Norway, #26 Japan, #49 US (gold)
1974	Sheer Heart Attack	#2 UK (platinum), #6 Netherlands, #9 Norway, #12 US (gold), #23 Japan
1975	A Night at the Opera	#1 Australia, Finland, Netherlands, UK (platinum); #2 Spain, #4 Norway, US (3x platinum); #9 Austria, Japan. Sold about 9 millions copies worldwide.
1976	A Day at the Races	#1 Japan, Netherlands, UK (gold); #3 Norway, #4 Finland, #5 US (platinum); #8 Austria
1977	News of the World	#1 France, Netherlands, Portugal; #3 Japan, US (4x platinum); #4 Norway, UK (gold); #9 Austria. Sold about 10 millions copies worldwide.
1978	Jazz	#1 Portugal; #2 UK (gold); #4 Netherlands, #5 Germany, Japan (number 1 on international charts); #6 Norway, Sweden, US (platinum); #8 Austria; #36 Italy
1980	The Game	#1 Argentina, Canada, Portugal, UK (gold), US (4x platinum); #2 Germany, Netherlands, Norway; #5 Austria, Japan (number 1 on international charts). Sold about 10 millions copies worldwide (some unofficial sources claim it sold 2 millions copies only in Argentina)
1980	Flash Gordon	#1 Austria, #2 Germany, #10 UK (gold), #12 Japan, #13 Netherlands, #23 US, #25 Norway
1982	Hot Space	#1 Austria, #2 Netherlands, #3 Norway; #4 Spain, Sweden, UK (gold); #5 Germany, #6 Japan, #7 France, #8 Italy, #22 US (gold)
1984	The Works	#1 Netherlands, Portugal; #2 Austria, Italy, Norway, UK (platinum); #3 Germany, Switzerland (platinum), Sweden; #4 Spain, #7 Japan, #23 US (gold). Sold about 5 millions copies worldwide.
1986	A Kind of Magic	#1 UK (2x platinum); #2 Netherlands, Spain; #3 Austria, Portugal; #4 Germany, Switzerland (2x platinum); #5 Norway, #25 Japan, #46 US (gold in 2005). Sold about 5 million copies worldwide.
1989	The Miracle	#1 Austria, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland (platinum), UK (platinum); #2 Norway; #3 Italy, Portugal; #4 Spain, #6 Sweden, #20 Japan, #24 US (gold).Sold about 7 million copies worldwide.
1991	Innuendo	#1 Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland (2x platinum), UK (platinum); #2 Austria, #8 Norway, #13 Japan, #30 US (gold).Sold about 8 million copies worldwide.
1995	Made in Heaven	#1 Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (3x platinum), UK (4x platinum); #2 France (2x platinum), Norway; #10 Japan, #58 US (gold). Sold in excess of 11 million.

The band has had 12 of their 15 studio albums at number 1 in various countries. They have over 30 albums, compilations, DVDs included.

Number one singles

Year	Single	Countries
1975	Bohemian Rhapsody	#1: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, UK (2x platinum)
1976	Somebody to Love	#1: Netherlands
1977	We Are the Champions / We Will Rock You	#1: France
1979	Love of My Life (live)	#1: Argentina, Brazil
1979	Crazy Little Thing Called Love	#1: Australia, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, US (gold)
1980	Another One Bites the Dust	#1: Argentina, Canada, Guatemala, Spain, US (platinum).
1980	Flash	#1: Austria
1981	Under Pressure (with David Bowie)	#1: Argentina, Netherlands, UK (silver)
1982	Las Palabras de Amor	#1: Poland
1984	Radio Ga Ga	#1: Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal (silver), Sweden
1984	I Want to Break Free	#1: Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa
1991	Innuendo	#1: UK (gold)
1991	I'm Going Slightly Mad	#1(?): Hong Kong
1991	Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are the Days of Our Lives	#1: Ireland, Portugal, UK (platinum)
1993	Five Live (EP with George Michael and Lisa Stansfield)	#1: Ireland, Spain, UK
1995	Heaven for Everyone	#1: Argentina, Poland
2000	We Will Rock You (with 5ive)	#1: UK

The band has had a total of six #1 songs in the UK and two in the US. They had 6 number ones in Netherlands and 3 in Belgium.

See also

• List of all songs performed by Queen

External links

• Official Queen Web site
• Official Brian May Web site
• Official Queen + Paul Rodgers Web site
• Official International Queen Fan Club
• Queen Concerts - information about Queen's concerts and live recordings
• Queen Archives - interviews, reviews, articles
• Queen Picture Hall - album and single covers
• Queen: The Videos - information and images of all promotional clips
• Queenzone - incl. discussion board and collection of pictures
• Queen Web Guide - Queen web guide, best sites
• Ultimate Queen - with details of song versions, lyrics, discography, videos, concerts and the musical
• Denis O'Regan - official Queen photographer
• The Queen Database
• Queen Lyrics
• Brief interviews about performance at Live Aid 1985 on YouTube
• Final public appearance of all four on YouTube BPI Awards 1990
• Brief coverage of Queen's R&R HOF induction in 2001 on YouTube
• VH1 documentary on YouTube

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